About the Author and Performer

Melinda Lopez is the playwright-in-residence at the Huntington Theatre Company, and a National Playwriting Fellow with the Mellon Foundation. Her plays have been seen all over the United States, and most recently in Cuba. Her work strives to bridge the 90 miles between the United States and Cuba. Mala, Sonia Flew, and Becoming Cuba are her best known plays. Ms. Lopez was the first recipient of the Charlotte Woolard Award, given by the Kennedy Center to a “promising new voice in American Theatre.” She has served as a panel member for the National Endowment for the Arts, the Cambridge Arts Panel, and has enjoyed residencies with the Huntington Playwriting Fellows, the Sundance Institute Theatre Lab, the Lark, the New York Theatre Workshop, and Harvard University. Ms. Lopez is also an actress and has appeared in regional theatres across the country, and works in film and radio. She teaches playwriting at Boston University and Wellesley College. She is active in the Cuban American community, raising funds for humanitarian aid for the people of Cuba, and was mentioned by President Obama in his speech to the Cuban and American people in 2016. Mayor Marty Walsh declared October 29, 2016 “Melinda Lopez Day” in the city of Boston, where she lives with her husband, daughter, giant yellow dog, and other critters. She has run two marathons, plays a little ukulele, and occasionally sleeps on the ground in the American Southwest.